2015 was a great year for HWTrek. We raised a Series A round of funding. We opened our Shenzhen office. We’ve more than doubled our team. We brought an awesome group of 30 hardware creators and accelerators from around the world to Taiwan, Beijing, and Shenzhen to meet 500 manufacturing and supply chain experts. We took part in a series of global events, led manufacturing workshops in Europe, and sponsored meetups as well.
We are grateful to our community of creators and experts. The hardware development ecosystem platform has grown tremendously in the past year – in fact it more than doubled in size. Here’s a breakdown of our community platform today as it flourishes at the end of the first quarter of 2016:
Platform stats:
- Creators: 5,700+
- Projects: 1,600+
- Experts: 1,000+
- Solutions & Programs: 500+
- Inquires bridged (between projects and manufacturers or other experts): 2,500+
- Visits: 20,000+/month
Project category:
- Smart Home: 19%
- Wearable: 19%
- Tech accessories: 16%
- Industrial applications: 10%
- Health devices: 8%
- Audio & Video: 8%
- Toys & Games: 6%
- Sports devices: 5%
- Auto applications: 5%
- Science gadgets: 4%
Project stage:
- Early stage: 29%
- Mid stage: 39%
- Advanced stage: 32%
Project origin:
- North America: 45%
- Europe: 25%
- Other: 30%
Experts expertise/offering stage
- Early stage (Consultants): 26%
- Mid stage (Designers): 24%
- Advanced stage (Manufacturers/Retail): 50%
Expert origin
- Taiwan: 57%
- China: 23%
- USA: 10%
- Other: 10%
We’re recruiting our next Asia Innovation Tour cohort and the deadline is coming soon! We recently announced 10 unique programs for hardware startups and SMB/SMEs with early stage projects. Keep an eye out for news soon about other partnerships we will be announcing in our continuing effort to rewire the supply chain ecosystem from Shenzhen to the rest of the world.
If you are a hardware creator, begin creating a project here. If you have a solution to offer, create one here. Let’s continue to grow and to create innovative products and companies together.
